In These Dreams
by The Little Monster 1024
Summary: Kate Beckett is an eighteen year old freshman at Stanford. As twenty-three year old senior, Richard Castle, enters her life, everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

**In These Dreams**

**Chapter One**

**AN: This is different than most of the things I've written. Its an AU, I know, weird, right? A college AU in which Beckett is an 18 year old freshman and Castle is a 23 year old senior. Yes, I know the age difference isn't correct, but hey, its an AU.**

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"_In these dream I don't tell anyone, I'm afraid to wake you up.  
In these dreams it's always you:  
the boy in the sweatshirt,  
the boy on the bridge, the boy who always keeps me  
from jumping off the bridge.  
Oh, the things we invent when we are scared  
and want to be rescued."_

- I Had a Dream About You, Richard Siken

* * *

The heavy door to her dorm room closed with a click as her parents left the room, leaving eighteen year old Kate Beckett alone in her dorm room. She looked around the small room; there were two twin beds, two tiny desks, and a small walkway between it all, dividing the room in two. She hadn't met her roommate yet, just read that her name was Cassidy.

Kate run a hand through her hair, her fingers getting tangled in the long strands. It had been a long day; moving everything in, walking around campus, lunch with her parents. She was exhausted. She sat down on her bed, running her hand along the purple blanket that was covering her bed. It was the same one that used to lay on her bed at home. It was soft and warm, she didn't want to leave it behind.

Kate wasn't one of those kids who needed their parents to hold their hand through everything; she never had been. Her parents always told her about how even on her first day of pre-school she'd wanted to walk in all by herself because she was a "big girl". She knew she'd be fine at Stanford, it was her dream school, after all. But even for someone as independent as her, it was going to be hard. She was going to miss her home on the other side of the country. She was going to miss dinner with her parents every night. She was going to miss watching games with her dad, talking about books with her mom before bed.

The door opened, pulling her from her thoughts, and a young girl walked inside, she was blonde, beautiful. She was shorter than Kate by a lot. She gave Kate a big smile, making Kate smile a little in return. The girl tossed her bag onto her bed and looked at Kate. "You're Katherine?" Her accent was strong, somewhere southern.

"Kate." Kate corrected. "And you're Cassidy?"

Cassidy nodded and sat down on the bed across from Kate. "Nice to meet you."

"You too."

The room fell silent, it was bit awkward.

"So, where are you from?" Cassidy asked her, kicking her flip flops off in front of her.

"New York."

Cassidy smiled. "Really?" She said excitedly. "That's so cool! I've always wanted to go there."

Kate couldn't help but smile back at her. "It's pretty alright, I guess." She was teasing, of course. She loved the city.

"You don't have that annoying accent."

"I try."

Cassidy let out a little laugh. Kate smiled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Can't say the same about you, though. Where are you from?"

"Georgia." Cassidy said. "The cliche tiny little southern town."

Kate smiled. City girl meets small town beauty. Sounded like a bad comedy.

"What's your major?" Cassidy asked her, leaning back on the bed a little, getting comfortable. "No, no, wait, let me guess."

Kate looked at her as Cassidy studied Kate from head to toe, like that would somehow give the answer away.

"English?" Cassidy guessed.

Kate shook her head.

"Business?"

"No."

"Pre-Med?"

"Nope."

Cassidy studied her again for a second. "History?"

Kate laughed a little. "You're not very good at this." Cassidy smiled at her. "I'm Pre-Law."

"That was going to be my next guess."

Kate nodded. "Uh huh, sure it was."

* * *

Kate and Cassidy fell into a pretty inevitable friendship. She didn't necessarily have anything in common but they were the only person the other knew. They got along well enough too. They did most things together: freshmen orientation, eating, walking to classes. That was until they had to go their separate ways for class. Cassidy was majoring in biology, which was on the other side of campus.

Kate's only complaint was that Cassidy loved to party. Kate often came back to her dorm to find Cassidy passed out drunk in bed, or she'd stumble in while Kate was trying to study. That didn't bother her too much, not as much as walking home from class only to find a sock tied to the door handle telling her that she was not supposed to go inside and interrupt.

Cassidy often complained that Kate never had any fun. She couldn't help it. She'd went through her wild child phase back in high school.

Kate went out with Cassidy every once in a while, but she wasn't much of a drinker and the kind of parties Cassidy would drag her to were in no way fun if you were sober. At those parties, she mostly just served as Cassidy's babysitter, making sure she didn't pass out or the frat guys didn't mess with her. Kate was fine with that, though. She didn't mind keeping her friend safe. Even if she'd rather stay in her dorm.

That was how her first week of college went by. Class, eating, very little sleeping, and helping out her friend who had managed to get drunk three days into her first year of college.

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**This chapter was a little short. The next one isn't as short, I promise. This is very different from what I usually write. Let me know what you think.**

**Don't worry, Castle's coming soon.**

**Cassidy is a female version of my friend Danny. Poor Kate has a handful with this one.**

**Oh, and thank you Ellie for the poem and the title for this fic.**


	2. Chapter 2

**In These Dreams**

**Chapter Two**

**AN: Yeah, I know Kate had a wild phase, but that was high school. She had her dream of being the first female chief justice. I think she'd study hard to get there.**

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The first three weeks of college flew by in a haze of yellow highlighter, coffee, and very little sleep. College was hard, obviously, but Kate hadn't expected it to be quite like it was. She didn't expect the mountains of homework every night, she didn't expect the notes upon notes of work she had to memorize. When she was in high school, she never had to study every night in the way that she had to in college.

Cassidy never studied, but still did amazingly well. Everyone had that one friend who did absolutely nothing and still managed to get better grades than you. Cassidy was that friend and it drove Kate crazy. It baffled Kate to watch Cassidy stumble into their room in the wee hours of the morning and then be up and gone to go to class before Kate was even out of bed.

Cassidy had managed to get Kate drunk once at a party and that hadn't ended well for either of them. When they woke up in their dorms the next morning, Cassidy had pink and purple streaks through her hair while the tips of Kate's was dyed blue. The hair wasn't the bad part, it was the fact that they were both so hungover that they had to skip class. The next day in class, Kate was barely able to catch up. She told herself she wasn't going to get that drunk again, she hated being behind everyone else in class.

One Thursday night, Kate was studying at her desk when Cassidy walked inside, drunk. Again.

"Kate, hey." Cassidy smiled brightly, her arms wrapping around Kate's, leaning against her friend who sat her highlighter aside.

"Hey, Cassidy."

"Come to a party with me tomorrow?" She said quickly, stumbling over her words.

Cassidy swayed a little and Kate straightened up in her chair, playing her hand on Cassidy's shoulder to steady her. "You need to go to bed."

"Noooooo."

"Cassidy." Kate said sternly.

"Katherine." Cassidy mimicked Kate's tone and then burst into giggles.

Kate stood to start to help her to bed. "Go to bed. You're drunk."

"You never answered my question." She whined.

"If you go to bed, I'll go to the party."

"Yay!" Cassidy threw her arms around Kate. Kate patted her back and then helped her into bed. "Love ya, Kate."

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, turning back and walking back to her desk where she spent the next hour studying, ignoring Cassidy's loud snores.

* * *

The next night, true to her word, Kate and Cassidy are getting ready for the party. She pulled her little purple dress from her bag and laid it on her bed.

"No, Kate," Cassidy said, laying one of her black dresses on top of it. "Wear this."

Kate pulled her dress from underneath Cassidy's and laid it on top. "I have a dress."

"One that you've already worn. Just wear mine."

Kate sighed but gave in. She pulled the little black thing on. It was tight, hugging every curve on her body. It was short too. It had been short when Cassidy wore it, so on Kate it was even shorter. Kate turned to look at Cassidy. "You seriously expect me to wear this thing."

"You've got the body for it." Cassidy said, fixing her red dress. "You look hot."

Kate shrugged a little, sighing.

"You do. Geez, most girls would kill for a body like yours."

She smiled a little. "Shut up." Kate said, as she checked her make up in her little mirror one more time.

Cassidy smiled and grabbed her bag and slipping into her heels. Kate pulled hers on too before Cassidy grabbed her hand and practically drug her out of the door, saying that they couldn't keep the frat guys waiting.

* * *

Kate crossed her arms across her chest as she leaned against the wall of the stuffy, cramped fraternity house. Everyone was drunk, there was spilled alcohol on the floor and music so loud that it felt suffocating. Kate's patience was running thin, aside from the obnoxiously uncomfortable party she was in the middle of, she'd been hit on by at least ten drunk assholes.

It was well after midnight and she told herself that they weren't staying that much longer. She kept her eye on Cassidy as she danced with some guys, completely trashed as usual.

As she was watching Cassidy, another guy approached her. He was obviously sober, which was different than every other guy she's encountered in the previous four hours. She looked up at him, taking him in. He was tall, taller than her even in her heels. He was strong, that evident, she could see the muscles in his arms in the plain t-shirt he was wearing. What caught her attention the most, though, were his eyes. They were bright blue, beautiful. He smiled at her and held a water bottle out to her.

She looked at it and then back up at him. She wasn't an idiot. She knew better than to take a drink from someone she didn't know. Especially at a frat party. Her mom had sat her down and talked to her about that before she'd left.

"No thanks." Kate said, turning her attention back to Cassidy.

"You've been standing here for hours now and its like a sauna in here." He said. "It's sealed, see?" He held the bottle out so she could see the sealed cap.

She eyed him suspiciously, still not trusting him.

He switched water bottles, offering her the one that he was going to drink and taking the one he'd offered to her. "Here."

She hesitated for a second and then took the water bottle. "Thanks."

He smiled a little and unscrewed the cap, taking a drink of his water. "The only sober people in sight, figured we could keep each other company."

She smiled a little, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I'm Rick, by the way. Rick Castle."

"Kate."

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**What did you guys think? **

**Don't worry, Cassidy won't be drunk the whole story. **

**Don't make me beg for reviews.**


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